# Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=157 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 158 --- ## [What does cancer have to do with it?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-cancer-have-to-do-with-it/341388)
**Author:** [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [January 27, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-cancer-have-to-do-with-it/341388 "2006-01-27T15:02:15Z")
In his guest report Mojave66 asserts that, “transmission from females to males is dependent on a lot of factors such as open sores on the penis and vulva, vaginal trauma in women and circumcision in men,” the last becaus… --- ## [Driving on the left side](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-on-the-left-side/340516)
**Author:** [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Replies:** 29\ **Last updated:** [January 26, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/driving-on-the-left-side/340516 "2006-01-26T16:46:30Z")
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_021b.html And IIRC, that also was reinforced by the oh-such-fun activity of jousting. Folks carried their spears in the right hand, and rode the horses to the left so that they … --- ## [Achilles Patroklus relationship](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/achilles-patroklus-relationship/341332)
**Author:** [@shadow6661](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shadow6661)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [January 24, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/achilles-patroklus-relationship/341332 "2006-01-24T18:54:20Z")
I see there is a lot of talk concerning the Greek homosexual relationships, which is a good thing. It’s a topic of ancient Greek life that is open to a lot of speculation and ripe for discussion. When it comes to the re… --- ## [Shirt Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shirt-buttons/340714)
**Author:** [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [January 23, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shirt-buttons/340714 "2006-01-23T21:02:29Z")
When I first read TRUST’s comment in a different thread, I had to question the logic. After reading this classic column however, I’m starting to think Cecil should have left this question alone. If there just isn’t a … --- ## [Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mojo/341192)
**Author:** [@flojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flojo)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [January 23, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mojo/341192 "2006-01-23T21:00:56Z")
I saw a movie in which the setting was in an Italinan Neighborhood in NYC. It was some time ago so I can’t recall the title. However, there were 3 senior ladies sitting outside an apartment building in lawn chairs wat… --- ## [1/2/2006 column updated?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-2006-column-updated/338147)
**Author:** [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [January 22, 2006, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1-2-2006-column-updated/338147 "2006-01-22T12:16:39Z")
In regards to the column shown today (1/2/2006)http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_011.html - was it updated at some point and the update not noted? I ask this because the article references “Weird Al” Yankovic’s Sm… --- ## [mise-en-scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mise-en-scene/340811)
**Author:** [@ibekarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ibekarl)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [January 20, 2006, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mise-en-scene/340811 "2006-01-20T13:21:30Z")
How about this for a brilliant and short definition of mise-en-scene: Mise-en-scene is all the stuff you see in a movie apart from the actor’s (s’) personal shtick(s). --- ## [Paper Sizes - US Gov't](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-sizes-us-govt/338746)
**Author:** [@emberk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emberk)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [January 19, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-sizes-us-govt/338746 "2006-01-19T21:38:22Z")
Just to confuse things further, the std size for paper used by the US Gov’t is 8 X 10.5. Why, do you ask? Well some genius :wally , I would love to credit this idiocy to our current president but what I am about to re… --- ## [Food "implicitly prohibited"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-implicitly-prohibited/340091)
**Author:** [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [January 19, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-implicitly-prohibited/340091 "2006-01-19T15:30:09Z")
In Do Jewish and Islamic dietary laws have anything in common?, Dex notes several foods that Islamic laws prohibit implicitly but not explicitly, such as animals with claws and fangs, birds of prey, carrion-eaters, roden… --- ## [Achilles and Patroclus](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/achilles-and-patroclus/339804)
**Author:** [@Machiavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machiavel)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [January 17, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/achilles-and-patroclus/339804 "2006-01-17T14:36:48Z")
Speaking of homosexuality among the ancient Greeks, Cecil says “An example commonly held up in Athens’ heyday was Achilles and Patroclus in the Iliad, who were understood to be lovers.” On the other hand, as Jasper Grif… --- ## [Answer RE: Billfold Left Side](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-re-billfold-left-side/340175)
**Author:** [@ctambour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctambour)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [January 16, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-re-billfold-left-side/340175 "2006-01-16T01:58:34Z")
In a right-handed world, why is a man’s billfold pocket on the left side? http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_395.html \[Pockets have always tended to be placed on the left side, for reasons that have little to do w… --- ## [Gestures](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gestures/340044)
**Author:** [@olckc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olckc)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [January 15, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gestures/340044 "2006-01-15T14:10:12Z")
In the US Virgin Islands a thumbs up gesture may be recieved as " up your\`s" rather than " Well done", as intended. Both loose through missconnunication! --- ## [cecil credentials](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234)
**Author:** [@el\_teso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/el_teso)\ **Replies:** 51\ **Last updated:** [January 14, 2006, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cecil-credentials/129234 "2006-01-14T22:21:42Z")
who is cecil really. what college did he go to? where did he get all the smart stuff from? or was he just born that way? --- ## [Laugh tracks](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laugh-tracks/339915)
**Author:** [@jimmy-m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmy-m)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [January 14, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laugh-tracks/339915 "2006-01-14T02:24:10Z")
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mlaughtrack.html I’m not so sure about this answer. I know that Warner Brothers spends a LOT of time and effort to get live audiences to watch their sitcoms being taped. They have mic… --- ## [Hobo Spiders and necrosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobo-spiders-and-necrosis/339717)
**Author:** [@rylest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rylest)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [January 14, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobo-spiders-and-necrosis/339717 "2006-01-14T00:29:42Z")
The above is incorrect with regards to Hobo spiders and their ability to cause massive infections. Hobo spiders which are now very common in the Northwest US are known to cause severe lesions and secondary infections. H… --- ## [Comment on The "pedals on a piano" question.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-the-pedals-on-a-piano-question/339788)
**Author:** [@Music\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Music_Man)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [January 13, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comment-on-the-pedals-on-a-piano-question/339788 "2006-01-13T13:26:09Z")
As a pianist, I appluad your answer. However, I thought you might like to know a little tidbit. In the last decade or so, many piano manufactures have altered the use of the third pedal. On many piano’s it is now what… --- ## [mano a mano](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mano-a-mano/339077)
**Author:** [@restifo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/restifo)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [January 12, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mano-a-mano/339077 "2006-01-12T19:06:50Z")
In your discussion in 1996 of “mano a mano,” why did you not comment that the usual misunderstanding (for those who at least spell it right) is that it means “man to man”? jvr --- ## [Spider Bites, um, no. What else could they be?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-bites-um-no-what-else-could-they-be/337384)
**Author:** [@Teufel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufel)\ **Replies:** 31\ **Last updated:** [January 11, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-bites-um-no-what-else-could-they-be/337384 "2006-01-11T18:11:36Z")
“Spider bites” are actually cellulitis, these days most commonly with community-acquired Methicillin Resistant Stalphlococcus Aureus. This misdiagnosis is horrendously common, and no matter how many times we correct the… --- ## [About the Asian Jumps....It's accually happening](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-asian-jumps-its-accually-happening/339459)
**Author:** [@midnightcentury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/midnightcentury)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [January 11, 2006, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-asian-jumps-its-accually-happening/339459 "2006-01-11T07:44:34Z")
Hello Cecil! First time writting you, and that’s pretty tough, because the LA Reader has been gone for years, and we miss you guys! Anyway, checking through the vaults, and this entry is listed :“If all Chinese jumped a… --- ## [Paper Sizes/Paper Airplanes](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-sizes-paper-airplanes/339339)
**Author:** [@Rocket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocket)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [January 11, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-sizes-paper-airplanes/339339 "2006-01-11T04:16:26Z")
Of course the standard 8.5 X 11 paper size is so that you can make a decent paper airplane out of it. http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_017.html http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_016.html --- ## [The whole TEN yards!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-ten-yards/339341)
**Author:** [@rahess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rahess)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [January 10, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-ten-yards/339341 "2006-01-10T19:17:45Z")
I have come across this website in my effort to learn the origin of the prase “The whole nine yards.” I don’t know if this is a tired, old debate on this message board, but I do know this: I hear this phrase more and mo… --- ## [Paper Airplanes](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-airplanes/339271)
**Author:** [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [January 10, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-airplanes/339271 "2006-01-10T04:16:52Z")
Interesting Article on paper airplanes by Cecil from 1992: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_017.html Somehow I missed that one (I hadn’t discovered the Dope in the Boston Phoenix by then), but I’d wondered abou… --- ## [Star Spangled Banner/Barney song](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-barney-song/338899)
**Author:** [@Skooter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skooter)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [January 8, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-spangled-banner-barney-song/338899 "2006-01-08T22:26:57Z")
In your article about the Star Spangled Banner being sung to an old drinking song,you mentioned that many songs recycled old tunes…like the Barney song being sung to This Old Man…well unless they have changed it the last… --- ## [Scared to death](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scared-to-death/339050)
**Author:** [@beefalobilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beefalobilly)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [January 8, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scared-to-death/339050 "2006-01-08T22:18:24Z")
I read the article “scared to death” and was immediately reminded of a very recent occurance. During the finale of spike TV’s “the ultimate fighter” a fighter named brad imes was fighting, and his mother, Carolyn Imes, … --- ## [Spanish Main](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-main/338729)
**Author:** [@Roger\_D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_D)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [January 8, 2006, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-main/338729 "2006-01-08T04:25:32Z")
Well, OED says 5. a. ellipt. for MAIN SEA: The high sea, the open ocean. Now poet. 1579-80 NORTH Plutarch, C. Marius (1595) 468 The winde stoode full against them comming from the maine \[F. le uent se tourna du costé d… --- ## [Bathing in the middle ages](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathing-in-the-middle-ages/280327)
**Author:** [@CastleAnthrax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastleAnthrax)\ **Replies:** 41\ **Last updated:** [January 7, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathing-in-the-middle-ages/280327 "2006-01-07T18:26:07Z")
A couple points to correct. First, it’s important to emphasize that it was Europeans who stank. You do mantion this once in passing, but during the time period in question, Muslim culture was extremely widespread and r… --- ## [Paper Sizes](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-sizes/338741)
**Author:** [@alabamao68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alabamao68)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [January 6, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-sizes/338741 "2006-01-06T16:41:28Z")
In his classic column regarding paper sizes, Cecil fails to mention the (at least at one time) ‘official’ US government size of 8 x 10 inches. In my military days (1968–1975) that was the size of all paper we used. The… --- ## [Paper sizes 20060106](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-sizes-20060106/338727)
**Author:** [@metricman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metricman)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [January 6, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-sizes-20060106/338727 "2006-01-06T16:37:13Z")
In his response to Phillip Raskin’s question about paper sizes, Cecil mentioned international standards. These are well explained in http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.html which also gives more on the history of … --- ## [Human Mail](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710)
**Author:** [@bradykelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradykelly)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [January 6, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-mail/337710 "2006-01-06T03:31:18Z")
Has anyone thought about what the thin air and low temperature could do to someone in a crate in the cargo hold of a jet? :frowning: Link to column: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/051230.html – CKDH --- ## [Mailing One's Self](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailing-ones-self/338561)
**Author:** [@mountainwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mountainwolf)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [January 5, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mailing-ones-self/338561 "2006-01-05T20:51:03Z")
Anyone interested in this topic is advised to check out the Velvet Underground song “The Gift”. I’ll provide details for anyone who can’t access the song. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=156) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/comments-on-cecils-columns-staff-reports/7.md?page=158)